VLC Media Player Problem under Vista
Posted by amida168 on January 25, 2007
[Update] I tried the latest version of VLC player (0.8.6d) and it played OK without modification. 12/27/2007
VLC is my favorite media player. It plays almost every media format and you can get it for every major platforms.
I tried VLC to play some AVI files on Vista RC2. It didn’t play them properly. I can hear sound but no video showing. I remember running into similar problems on XP. I had to reduce the color from 24 bit to 16 bit. I tried to do the same on Vista RC2, but it’s a no go. Still no video.
I then found this solution. It tells you to set the video rendering engine to OpenGL. I tried to use other settings and found that “DirectX video output” and “Windows GDI video output” also work. Here are the steps.
- Open VLC media player.
- Click on Settings and select Preferences… .
- Expand Video and click on Output modules. Note that DON’T expand Output modules, just click on it.
- Check Advanced options in the lower right corner.
- Set Video output module to either “DirectX“, “OpenGL” or “Windows GDI“
You’ll need to restart VLC media player after the change.
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Massimo said
thanks a lot
massimo
bex said
Windows GDI Seems to work the best
T.n said
GDI works the smoothest, i never would have thought of this… THANKS!
Ansh said
Thank you so much!!!
tim tim said
hey man
thanx a lot
was cursing the whole world
you put and end to that
warmest wishes
Bob said
GDI does not seem to work for me especially when watching a DVD ISO File, can’t click anywhere on the dvd menu.
Justin said
Wonderful! I had to use OpenGL because DirectX makes Aero switch to Basic, but OpenGL works great. THANKS!!!!
Greg said
I was almost about to install XP back on my computer. just so i can have VLC. Thank you very much
Wille said
Thank you very much, u solved my big problem!!
luz said
thank you so very much!!!! i wanted to kill my computer because i had tried everything and it still wasn’t working. thanks
Bawoo said
thanks man!
Chris said
Finally VLC Works on vista!
oSourceM said
thanks a lot mate
cheers
Jules ~ said
Yea for the internet !!
{{{{ Hugs }}}} Jules
michael said
hi thank alot its working cant belief it you very clever
gs said
U r a saver.. i was pissed off at vista.. thank you.
Fartun said
how come when i use windows gdi the quality is reduced a bit?
Maxx said
Your awesome. That saved me hours, and countless bottles of wine…
Chad said
Some of my observations:
Windows GDI – Run the smoothest, but the worst quality. When in full screen mode I am unable to use keyboard commands.
Direct X – Changes to Vista Basic colors, but who cares. Better quality than GDI, but it just doesn’t seem perfect. Keyboard commands work in full screen mode however.
OpenGL – Not sure why, but on my comp it’s very laggy, enough to make everything unwatchable. Sounds like it works on other computers though.
Tom said
Awesome!
Fartun said
a big thanks to chad for helping me out
=)
sol said
you know wot, your a star, thanks a lot mate
Ross said
Thanks mate!!! I almost “drop-tested” my laptop…
Matt Campbell said
hero! this is awesome! w00t!
Adrian said
Works great… thanks so much!
|_Borg_| said
Very well done man. I have used this player for a very long time and was disappointed to see it did not work under Vista until now. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. I can now rid of WMP! woot!
Paolo said
Thanks a lot!!!
meck said
another thanks…worked wounderfully
AnimeSonic said
I had to use DirectX to get video to appear on my secondary monitor
IA said
Thanks! Huge help.
gareth said
top man, thanks I have been trying to sort this for ever!!!!
Ketav said
Thanks a lot boss… i tried all the possible things. finally i got this link.. Thanks a lot.. it really works.
Magnus said
Didnt think it would be so simple.
Jason said
wow thanks
Nick said
Brilliant solution, cheers
Paul said
Thanks for me too.
You da man!
brenie said
hey up lads need sum help it does nt apper the gui windows thing tryed dircetx ad the other turned of the rgb colour iam now geytting a black sceen ad a fanit flicker of about 1 second wear i can see the movie thats being plkayed any help wood b very very great full other matters test divx pro gud installation missing the mepg 1 codec 4 sum reason vlc resolved the issue with nero7 4 vista sum theing that might b ov interest xp regisitry cleaner start up as admininsterater cleaned it up fat when u go 2 delete it ll hang 4 a while but bear with it simes 2 b working
brenie said
installed divx pro was haveing pro;bems with the mepg 1 codec they have a very fancy tool indeed 2 repair missing dlls ad so forth bascially all in coders r working very very pleased thought pass it on full divx in codeing on vista starting 2 feel like xp wed a new look nice 1 xxxxx
o yea 2 my last post prolbems with vlc 1 sewcond of picture than a black screen here sound done much of the above menthioned no gui wiondows mentions command promp with in the program little lost did gain picture 4 sum time lost it again doing head in gud little player a must have xxxxx
thanks said
Thanks that fixed my problem. Good looking out! Windows GUI is the best. It lets you keep vista aero on.
pavan said
thanks a lot man…. u figured it out
vlc tings said
vlc no help got divx 6.0.0 installed weorking transcodeing can also use in media centre ad media player all thow reverts 2 basic mode further work 2 b done cant get this vlc thiong working sirpize sirprize most ov the cracks for xp r working just applyed differently got this running like a bomb lolololo as ive said xp wed a new faCE FEW BITS MISSING ID RATHER OF HAD FOR CLEANING UNISTALLS namely folders regisrty cleaning the lot haveing a vey gud day pushing this vista crap 2 its limits lololoolo
vlc tings said
forgot 2 mention this is a clean install not of the back ov xp is this cwear iam getting prolbems cud anybody throw a little light thanks brenie
godfarter said
Thank you!
I was thinking of waiting for a VLC Vista release but your solution has solved all problems.
With your help VLC has once again showed its versatility in the face of so many incompatibility issues with Vista!
Svein said
thank you… thank you… thank you… thank you…
Dave said
Thanks a lot.
Don’t use OpenGL – it sucks. DirectX didn’t work for me.
Use Windows GDI.
delo said
thanks a lot bro, i was gonna take back this comp.lol
now to fix my windows media player…..
Nino said
Works alsome,..!! Thanx
Hannah said
Mwah! Thankies.
)
Troy said
Cheers! Was having some audio sync problems playing xvids with media player and nero vision. Thought I’d give VLC a shot only to be disappointed by flashing colours instead of video. I changed the video output settings to DirectX and now it works perfectly and no sync problems.
Thanks again, your help was much appreciated!
the man said
thanks for this tips it helps me
Lazy said
U are the best thanks alottt
heymaynard said
This didnt work for me! I cannot see Windows GDI? Am I doing it wrong? I have vista premium
amida168 said
Heymaynard,
What version of VLC player you have? The latest one is 0.8.6a.
N8 said
ty man
holSee said
Thankyou buddy
Vincent Smithy said
ok i dont know how to follow those instruction, when you go to the output modules thingy, how does it work after? how do you select them?
Vincent Smithy said
ok i have sortedit now
DTWildman said
Thank you!
Harmo777 said
thanks, i ended up using OpenGL seems to work the best for me, Direct X disabled the areo (its dosent really make a difference, areo is turned back on after you finsh watching something anyway) Windows GDI worked but seem to be missing alot of colors,(tested using 1080p simpsons movie trailer)
cougar said
Thanks Amida168, good work. Was already downloading that Softpedia package, in the meanwhile I did some research and I found out, it’s related to Alexa and has lots of malware included. I like that VLC player too and I’m glad it works now with Vista.
John said
Thanks heaps
Gregory said
Thank you very much vlc is the best player I’ve found. thanks again for the fix
ashtin darksbain (Gregory)
fred said
this helped for me, but cannot click any menu items with mouse (mouse click just toggles fullscreen)
however dvd menu can be navigated with arrow keys and enter.
also on fullscreen gdi keyboard commands dont work, and quality is slightly reduced with an occasional millisecond lag. havent fully tried the other options
Thomas said
Thanks alot! I was worried there was something wrong because I coudn’t play the files using VLC. You saved my day
Dalton said
Thank you! Now I don’t have to switch do XP to watch MPEG4 videos.
mattias said
Just want to say thanks from sweden!
jothan said
Thanks!!!!!
piet said
Thanks mate!
Jangster said
Thanks for the tip. Its working now!!!!
Ruby said
i dont quite understand it, but it worked.. thank you for sharing it..
karun said
Thanks a lot … It works perfect !!
CJL said
thank you so much !!!
You saved me !!
backspace said
Kudos to you my friend!
jc98 said
that got it
ZeageR said
ty m8!
works with charm (:
kris said
thanks alot playin .bin .cue movies on vista ,working great as open gl
ntr lanja said
thank you very much
Tony said
Thanks been looking for a solution to this for weeks.
John said
Thank you I just installed Vista, going through all the esential apps VLC instals no problem but only sound play no video. A quick google and your solution pops up. Many thanks without it I would not have found the silly ascii art option.
Arnold said
Cheers, it works great!
Jonas said
Awesome, thank you very much!
Vish said
Thanks soooo much. I was starting to get pissed at Vista :p
Evil Mochi said
Thank you so much ^3^!!! I was going crazy! It kept doing this stupid thing where I could only see the video when the subtitles were active D: that’s no way to watch a movie
realheadache said
tanx mate,
that was a big helper
anand said
Thanks a lot
Westifire said
Aw man. Quick search and this thread comes up.
Vista’s compatibility issues are getting annoying. Thanks for the quick tip. Now I can go back to using VLC again!
SwisSlesS said
Awesome fix. Thanks.
mike said
HELP…when i go into the preferences to change the module output, i dont see directx, the only options i have are cube or transparant cube?!
m said
thankss sssssssssssooooooooooooo much!!!
i thought i’d loose all my divx converted files
gdi works best for me too
ilkay said
thanks a lot dude it works
amida168 said
Mike,
You looked at the wrong place. The CORRENT setting is at Video -> Output modules. The setting you talked about is at Video -> Output modules -> OpenGL .
Josh said
THANK YOU SOO MUCH
Kal said
dude you rock, i guess the rest of us are just too lazy to spend hours looking into the preferances options. thanks again. man what a let down vista is eh? all the good programs dont work ie. powerstrip, daemon tools (well u have to update) and others too.
John Monahan said
Sorry but none of the above worked for me. Can ger Media Player classic to work fine under Viata (business) but not VLC media Player.
Anybody else have the same problem?
dan said
thank you so much! was stressing so much about this. your a genius ta
Boban said
THANKS!!!!!!!!!
GDI works best.
Bill Bamford said
I have vista for business on my new laptop from Dell. I have tried changing to OpenGl and DirectX. I don’t have the option for WindowGDI. When I expand Video – and Output modules, I can’t tell which is actually selected. When I move my curser to one of the 3 I press enter. Then Save but nothing seems to change. Also, my DVD has a menu that can be viewed but when I play the movie, all I get is sound.
amida168 said
Bill,
You forgot to check the “Advanced options” in the lower right corner. Also, don’t expand “Output modules”, just click on it. Take a closer look at the screenshot and you’ll know how to do it.
GoldfishGobbler said
^^^ that’s pretty impressive, don’t think i’ve ever seen a success rate like that before on a forum!
Here’s another one for the list: It fixed it for me! DirectX didn’t work, but others are fine
Bill said
Damn you’re good. Thanks dude
Neko said
Finally, the nightmare is over!! thanks a lot, i thought there was something wrong with the player or my laptop
David said
Thanks! I must have reinstalled this thing 5 times…!
ravi chandu said
thanks a lot………u solved the problem………
pooja said
thaks a lot
willis said
HELL YES!! thx so much man!
rene said
God bless u, you’re a genius.
thx a lot.
Romeo said
You’re the man. Thanks for saving me from kicking my pc in frustration. If there was a medal for this kind of thing, you should have it.
Rami said
Thank you so very much!
saurav said
thanks man!
u r gr8
randy orton said
you’re the man!
Josh said
Awesome, works great now.
Paolo said
Thanks a lot. I was about to burn my bin file when I found your solution. Now my wife is happy.
johnnie fox said
Thanks so much, vlc was not working at all until this. THANK YOU!!!!
id kenneth said
thanks a lot man. I love vlc and wasn’t going to let it go.
fb said
hey, i was going crazy trying to get vlc to work again ony vista. truly, thanks a lot.
pinocchio said
Thanks a lot amida, you made my weekend great…
Philip Rooney said
Thank you i think i love you for that tip…
ImMortaL said
dude… ive looking for this yearsssssssssssss
tnx alot!!!!!!!!!!!
Theo M said
Hi Mate,
your a champion, playing most types of video format in vista aswell as just getting basic audio music to play is an absolute mission on this OS..
thanks heaps for that.
jimbo said
Yes, use openGL. Don’t forget to press stop before changing to different settings, if you change them while playing something they won’t change.
Stoke City FC Fan said
Thanks to you I can now use the Gr8 VLC program on VISTA!
U R A Star!
Thanx!!
Prateek said
Thanks, I was having the same problem.
Nag said
this is not working for me. plz help.
lu_fredo said
Great…found that GDI had lines, OpenGL was a bit shaky.. but directX worked perfectly..thanks!
laggist said
wow thanks! great stuff
grac said
Thanks… much appreciated!
The Source Computing Blog » VLC Media Player Problem under Vista said
[...] short guide about how to fix the VLC media player problem under Vista.read more | digg [...]
shindiggidy said
ALLELUIA!!!!!!!!! PRAISE TO AMIDA!!! VLC BACK ON LINE!!!! found direct x works best. thx.
luc said
it’s too slow!
Eldon said
Worked great for me on my new Vista laptop. Thank you very much. Now if I can get a good nvidia driver for vista that’s decent I’ll be happy with Vista
Mykolas said
super! works perfect! thanks man!
Dan said
Thanks, but it did not work for me. I tried every setting that you suggested, but I still get no video. I hate Vista! I’ve had nothing but problems, since I got this new PC. If anyone has any advice, besides throwing the PC in the river, I will appreciate it.
amida168 said
Dan,
Did you remember to close VLC and open it again after you changed the setting? That’s one mistake I made.
Jeffrey said
both OpenGL” and “Windows GDI“ works for me, but “Windows GDI“ works flawless
Dan said
Thanks for the advice, but I still can’t get it to work. Yes, I closed the player and restarted it. I’ve tried all different settings, and I still have no video. The only thing I can think of besides that the PC is junk, is that somehow I am not saving the changes correctly.
suyog gangal said
Thanks a lot! That input was amazing.
NRG said
Love u!
I can now actually see my porn….not just hear the groaning!
Carlton said
Thank you
I thought I had to go back to XP also
Jay said
Hated Vista, but not anymore. Microsoft should be really thankful to you for saving them.
craig said
thnx so much. works great on DX
justagirl said
you’re a genius! thanks heaps
James said
Thanks I can watch videos again.
Aflicator said
Ej, man! Thanks a lot… Saved a lot of time….
Wish u well….
Dave said
Awesome job !! ..i wud hav gone mad without this soln..Kudos !!
Raylene said
I have vista prem. I dl the newest version of VLC. and i followed the steps above and it still won’t work. But there is one option that i don’t have on my vlc and that is the “windows gdi” any other ideas on how i can finally get my video working on vlc ????? thanks in advance for any/all help!!!
Mridul said
thank u, thank u… u made my day
amida168 said
Raylene,
The instruction is for 0.8.6a, and I notice the latest is 0.8.6b. Try to download 0.8.6a and see if it works for you. I’ll try 0.8.6b later.
Hasanda said
thanx a lot….you save my time
studleygudfk said
go on!!!! Im impressed with you!!!! cheers!!!!
amida168 said
Raylene,
I installed 0.8.6b and it’s the same as 0.8.6a. Please refer to the comment #98. I think you clicked on the wrong setting.
GS059 said
Thank you so much, I have been using other players like wmp, and it does not work for everything like vlc, and now I can actualy view what I am listening to in a video.. lol
Jukka said
Thanks
Raylene said
Thanks a million, I was expanding on the output modules!!! I read #98 and that cleared eveything up. Working perfect. Thanks so much to AMIDA168 for pointing out what i was doing wrong!!!! Thanks soooooooo much!!!
andrew b said
very helpful. thanks a million
Dan said
Thanks so much for the added information. I was having the same problems as Rayelene. I was expanding the “Outputs” module and I could not get the player to work. It works great now. Anyone that is having problems, see #98, it will clear up your issues. Vista lives another day. LOL
FatBoyFonz said
I’d also like to post my gratitude.
Cheers =)
news.thedigitalmachine.com » MythWeb and VLC for dead-simple video broadcasting! said
[...] that under Vista, VLC needs this little tweak to show [...]
Eagle said
Thanx, been looking for a solution for a couple of days. Now making use of Windows CGDI.
Aralerm said
Me too. Got same probs and now is fine. I only use VLC to watch any kinda video
Arale Chan
Fart Bubble said
Thanks man, solved my VLC problems just fine. It also made me able to fix Media Player Classic disabling Vistas Aero with almost the same approach
Daily Cup of Tech Tumblog » VLC under Vista Fix said
[...] VLC Media Player Problem under Vista « Computer Bits: I tried VLC to play some AVI files on Vista RC2. It didn’t play them properly. I can hear sound but no video showing. I remember running into similar problems on XP. I had to reduce the color from 24 bit to 16 bit. I tried to do the same on Vista RC2, but it’s a no go. Still no video. [...]
ALphonse brown from Cuckooland said
Thanks dude! The life in front of my computer can start again…
God Bless you!
The Dude said
Hi, can anyone tell me how to use VLC to set a video as wallpaper, just like Vista’s Dreamscenes?
NPS said
hey thanks a ton. I was just about to uninstall VLC media player when i hit upon your posting through google search. You r a genius
The Unreasonable Man » Blog Archive » Vista and media said
[...] I can finally play media, like a DVD or an .AVI file, in Vista. Not using Windows Media Player (that moans about the need to buy a decoder when I want to play a DVD!), but using vlc. Even vlc did not work at first, but that just needs a setting and it works. A bit of googling found the solution here [link]. [...]
vista24 said
nice one peeps, direct x works best for me. When on windows gdi the pic seems to be fuzzy. Yes vista goes to basic but reverts to aero when vlc is stopped
.
RK said
Thanks a ton buddy
Cheers
Poor Man's DreamScene: VLC Media Player « Computer Bits said
[...] Comments RK on VLC Media Player Problem under Vistavista24 on VLC Media Player Problem under VistaThe Unreasonable Man » Blog Archive » [...]
amida168 said
The Dude,
Check out this post about how to enable Wallpaper mode in VLC player.
Andrew Jason Lim said
It worked!
Thanks a lot.
prasanth said
hi i really worried a lot before i see ur message. thx a lot ,,,
Skip said
If any Microsofties are reading this, give this man a job!!!
Thanks dude
UncleJohnsBand said
Excellent….thanks.
♪≤»»ŴãЯЯĭŏŔ_ẀĭŦħĭŇ««≥♪™® said
thank a lot man
i was so worried abt this
thisdigitalme said
MAn….you’re a star. You’ve saved me hours of grief. First thread I looked at and there’s the answer.
Well done.
Mathew Waters said
Thanks so much, who knew? Not me that’s for sure!
sheik said
Hi Thank you so much!. I was struggling a lot to view movies in the VLC player in Vista. Now as per your steps, I did it and able to watch movies.
Jo said
Hay Thanks 4 that i was about to through my new laptop out the window lol, Windows GDI worked fine for me
Cheers m8
Jo
Deepix said
Hey…Thank you so much!!!
YOU ARE THE MAN!
Cheers
Jug said
“OpenGL – Not sure why, but on my comp it’s very laggy, enough to make everything unwatchable. Sounds like it works on other computers though.”
It probably depends on your graphics card developer’s drivers. Vista doesn’t include any good OpenGL drivers. So if you’re on for example nVidia, ensure you’re on the latest ForceWare drivers!
Dreamscene Alternative in All Vista Versions | A Blog you can use said
[...] Change the “Video output module” to “DirectX video output” by following this guide. [...]
Craig said
Thanks so much man… you rock.
Was getting so annoyed with not being able to play any video files on my new laptop until i read this.
Luong said
Hi,
I bought a HP notebook dv9000. It comes with window vista home Premium,
I try to open Media player, and download Media player 11, but never work,
I do not know how to make it works.
Can you help?
thanks
E. said
Thank you! I never would’ve figured this out on my own.
Lethal said
You just saved the VLC reputation. Thank you so much! I thought this was it for VLC. But I guess it continues being number ONE after this solution. You the man!
Ashok said
I too was unable to see the video so made change in video output to open GL. Now while i can see video but audio is real bad, it gives lot of echo. Any suggestion what setup i may be missing.thanks in advance
Bex said
Anyone else got problems with the sound? Thanx for fixing the picture! much appreciated.
Ashok said
Thanks mate…. Very useful and easy solution…..
zlv said
sweet !
that works perfectly ! thank you
kartik said
thnx alottttt
Francois said
I had to add my name to this thanks list.
d-money said
thanks!
timotheus said
thanks man
samuel said
thankyou so much, your a legend and a hero!
gunther said
thanks man!
paintedbutterfly said
OMG thank you sooo much!! I had deleted 3 movies thinking they were bad dls. Again, thank you.
walebface said
I’m going nuts here, my windows vista is killing me, each time i play a video file with my VLC player, all i can hear is sound no videos whatsoever. I did exactly what “amida 168″ suggested but for some reason my VLC playr doesn’t have the output module option and the Advanced options tab in the lower right corner doesn’t have an option for either “DirectX“, “OpenGL” or “Windows GDI“
So i’m beginning to think I might be using the wrong version VLC media player, this is what i downloaded VLC player 0.8.6b and it used o work on XP.
So if u guys, use any other version can u pls let me know where get it from.
I NEED HELP.
amida168 said
Waleface,
Please refer to comment #98.
joe973 said
haaaaaa what a relief. thanks man…It felt so good I even took the time to register to this blog
wynnkey said
Hahahaha, I registered too, just because I am so grateful.
I don’t have to worry about my counter anymore, I’ve already changed the code twice. Eek. 
Now I can watch Robin Hood Men in Tights with no worries. Hahahahah!
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Somewhere out there! » Blog Archive » VLC problems on Visata? said
[...] problems on Visata? Switch to the opengl output [...]
santhosh said
I am facing some problem….while opening media file thru VLC player….I am using windows vista home premium….can anybody suggest me wt 2 do….
SS said
Thanks! That saved me a lot of headache.
Shaik Ibrahim said
Many Thanks. Was really getting bugged with peopel saying VLC plays all files and I cudnt make it play a simple AVI LOL. Thanks to you now thats past
Cheers
lia said
eeeee many thanks!!!!!!!you saved me!!!really really.mpravo!!!!
Harish said
Great!!! Thanks a lot
Jalmari said
works fine thanks dude